Say Yoho!

[Mayhem]

Mentioning Mission Impossible reminds me of something, and as Scott is here, hopefully he can answer it! I have a copy of the game, on the Vic20, that has Atomic Mission packaging. Cart is still identical inside though. Was the license of the TV show only for a year or similar, and after that, the game had to be called something else?

[ScottAdams]

Hi Scott!

Aside from the 8K RAM expander, Adventureland was my first cartridge for my VIC back in '82. I eventually collected the whole set of your adventures, with Mission Impossible to this day being the only one I never solved. I still go back to it from time to time, but the bomb still explodes.

I still mutter 'SYS 32592' to myself in my sleep sometimes...

[ScottAdams]

Mentioning Mission Impossible reminds me of something, and as Scott is here, hopefully he can answer it! I have a copy of the game, on the Vic20, that has Atomic Mission packaging. Cart is still identical inside though. Was the license of the TV show only for a year or similar, and after that, the game had to be called something else?

Yes we were threatened with a lawsuit for the original name as it infringed the IP. So it was changed to Secret Mission on most platforms. Not sure why it became Atomic Mission on Vic.

Interesting side note the name The Last Star Fighter belonged to a game we published and the movie company came to us to buy the rights! Other licensing issues was a Star Trek game we had also the adventure Mystery Funhouse. These we changed due to issues. We did license the Marvel comic characters (the first personal computer games to do so) and also the movie Buckaroo Banzai for our adventure of the same name.

[malcontent]

Any other mainframe game memories? Many of my favorite games (genres) have their roots there like Rogue, Telengard, and Super Star Trek.

Also more along the lines of text adventure design: You seem to prefer using "I," while other games, like Zork, used "You." Was this a conscious decision?

[ScottAdams]

Any other mainframe game memories? Many of my favorite games (genres) have their roots there like Rogue, Telengard, and Super Star Trek.

Also more along the lines of text adventure design: You seem to prefer using "I," while other games, like Zork, used "You." Was this a conscious decision?

Well I took an SDC (Space Defense Command) radar station in the 70s and modified a teletype star trek program to use the main tracking CRT for the game during off hours. Probably the first tracking station in the world to be turned into a video game

The mainframe there was a Xerox Sigma 7 machine. Quite the system for it's time.

Yes I wrote the games to be a command and report of your avatar. Just felt right. I actually was able to leverage that for some humor. Anyone remember the mongoose in Pirate Adventure?

[Bacon]

Welcome! Really nice to see one of the great game developers for our old machine turn up here.

[ScottAdams]

Welcome! Really nice to see one of the great game developers for our old machine turn up here.

Thanks I appreciate the welcome! I also love your signature. I used to have a nice frame copy of that saying on my wall but it got misplaced over the years

[Witzo]

Welcome!
And interesting to read about your work!

[ral-clan]

Wow! I'll echo the great pleasure in actually being able to correspond with *Scott Adams*, one of the pioneers of text adventures.

Lots of questions:

1. Did Commodore approach you, or did you approach Commodore?
2. Besides your fee and royalties, did you get any other perks from the deal with Commodore...eg. a free VIC-20? Copies of the completed game?
3. Did you have any say over the packaging or artwork of used for the VIC-20 cartridge, or the colours chosen in the on-screen text?
4. Are there any "easter eggs" hidden in any of the games (sounds like there wasn't even room).
5. Did you have to "edit down" and abbreviate any of the games or room descriptions for the VIC-20 (I've only ever played the VIC-20 versions)?
6. What did you think of Infocom games, and did you know any of the people at Infocom?

PS: I enjoyed your interviews in the DVD "Get Lamp"!

[ScottAdams]

Wow! I'll echo the great pleasure in actually being able to correspond with *Scott Adams*, one of the pioneers of text adventures.

Lots of questions:

1. Did Commodore approach you, or did you approach Commodore?
2. Besides your fee and royalties, did you get any other perks from the deal with Commodore...eg. a free VIC-20? Copies of the completed game?
3. Did you have any say over the packaging or artwork of used for the VIC-20 cartridge, or the colours chosen in the on-screen text?
4. Are there any "easter eggs" hidden in any of the games (sounds like there wasn't even room).
5. Did you have to "edit down" and abbreviate any of the games or room descriptions for the VIC-20 (I've only ever played the VIC-20 versions)?
6. What did you think of Infocom games, and did you know any of the people at Infocom?

PS: I enjoyed your interviews in the DVD "Get Lamp"!

1) They approached us. Same thing with Marvel comics, they also approached us. I don't remember on Buckaroo Banzai though if we approached the studio or they us.

2) Nothing really of note. I suspect we did get a full set of the games and Vic to try them on but I don't remember at this point.

3) The packaging was Commodore's bailiwick but everything in the game I had final say on, especially since I was the one doing it

4) Nothing too major, there is one little one where you take a wrong turn and end up somewhere a bit odd. Also the sign by the bottomless pit. Anyone remember those?

5) No the Vic versions have the full database of the games.

6) I didn't really play them other than the original Zork on a mainframe. I didn't know the folks there.

[FD22]

Hmm, is that the Memory Circuit in Voodoo Castle? My memory is a bit vague, so I might have the wrong game.

I liked the unofficial Easter Egg in some of the games - if I remember rightly, typing the left-arrow character would sometimes trigger a strange debug mode where the game would spew a chunk of internal data in response to every verb/noun command you entered.

[ScottAdams]

Hmm, is that the Memory Circuit in Voodoo Castle? My memory is a bit vague, so I might have the wrong game.

I liked the unofficial Easter Egg in some of the games - if I remember rightly, typing the left-arrow character would sometimes trigger a strange debug mode where the game would spew a chunk of internal data in response to every verb/noun command you entered.

The chip was in my first game Adventureland

Yes I had a debugger in many of my games hidden away. I honestly don't even remember the controls for it now. I still have it in my new games as well controlled by # key.

[Victragic]

I loved Pirate's Cove! The first text adventure I ever played, and about the only text adventure I ever completed. I'm glad to finally have a chance to tell the author what a great game it was.

The sense of accomplishment when I finally built the ship was second-to-none. Even the 'weigh anchor' pun could be forgiven.

[ScottAdams]

Mentioning Mission Impossible reminds me of something, and as Scott is here, hopefully he can answer it! I have a copy of the game, on the Vic20, that has Atomic Mission packaging. Cart is still identical inside though. Was the license of the TV show only for a year or similar, and after that, the game had to be called something else?

This was one I got my hands slapped HARD for. I never licensed the TV program and they came after me. Lesson learned I can tell you! Had a similar problem with a Star Trek game too.

Later I did license Marvel comics and Buckaroo Banzai. In an interesting turn of events the studios came to me to license The Last Star Fighter!


P.s. Just realized I had answered this one already. But I will leave this on the thread as it has a bit more info.

[ScottAdams]

I loved Pirate's Cove! The first text adventure I ever played, and about the only text adventure I ever completed. I'm glad to finally have a chance to tell the author what a great game it was.

The sense of accomplishment when I finally built the ship was second-to-none. Even the 'weigh anchor' pun could be forgiven.

I am so glad you have such fond memories of the game! Thanks for sharing that. Amazing that the joke is even still remembered by you as well!